Post-deployment suicide: A closer look

[CommunityEditor]

Veterans’ groups and families who have lost loved ones say the number of troops struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder or other mental health issues is on the rise and not enough help is being provided by the Pentagon and the Veterans Affairs Department.

For some, there are long waits for appointments at the VA or at military posts. For others, the stigma of a mental health disorder keeps them from seeking help.

Paul Rieckhoff, executive director and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, says that although suicides among troops returning from the war are a significant problem, the scope is unknown.

“The problem that we face right now is that there’s no method to track veterans coming home,” said Rieckhoff, who served in Iraq as a platoon leader in the first year of the war. “There’s no system. There’s no national registry.”

More than four years into the war, the government has little information on suicides among Iraq war veterans.

The Defense Department does track suicides but only among troops in combat operations such as Iraq and Afghanistan and in surrounding areas. Since the war started four years ago, 107 suicides during Iraq operations have been recorded by the Defense Manpower Data Center, which collects data for the Pentagon. That number, however, usually does not include troops who return home from the war zone and then take their lives.

For service members returning from combat, post-deployment health assessments include a questionnaire with queries about mental health. This year, the Pentagon expanded health monitoring for war veterans to include another screening three to six months after combat.

Earlier this month, a Pentagon task force warned that the military health care system is overburdened and not sufficient to meet the needs of troops suffering from PTSD and other psychological problems. The panel called for a fundamental shift in treatment to focus on screening and prevention instead of relying on troops to come forward on their own.

One of the biggest challenges for troubled vets is the stigma of a mental health disorder, said Meshad. “It’s very, very hard for you to reach out and say, ‘I’m hurting.’ It’s hard for men to do it, but particularly [for] a soldier who’s endured life-and-death situations.”

et him help, but he worried that it would hurt his career if the Army found out, his father said.

Randy Omvig said the military and VA need to offer better readjustment counseling. There should be teams of health professionals, he said, who come to the base to talk to the troops in a comfortable setting with their comrades.

The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is considering a bill named for Joshua Omvig. It directs the VA to develop a suicide prevention program for veterans suffering from PTSD and other depression issues. It unanimously passed the House in March.

The VA declined to comment about the bill or its requirements.

PTSD disability claims to the VA increased almost 80 percent over five years — from 120,265 in 1999 to 215,871 in 2004. Benefit payments jumped nearly 150 percent, from $1.72 billion to $4.28 billion in the same period, according to a report this month from a committee of the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council.

Full article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...uicide_070528/


Is the military doing all it could and should? Do we need to enlist assistance from the private sector? How do we let our troops returning home know that there's no stigma attached to needing help adjusting? Or is there? Where do we go from here?

The TBI elephant in the room:

Any discussion of physical or psychological wounds from the IED war in Iraq that does not mention Traumatic Brain Injury is like the blind men describing the elephant. That goes for suicides in theater, or post-deployment.

It takes no imagination to see that neurological loss of capacity, on top of stress and unregulated combat use of antidepressants, is going to contribute to PTSD and depression. What is easy to lose sight of is that TBI can be concealed by a total lack of penetrating trauma, or the presence of bvious trauma that may seem more pressing and tretable.

TBI is the signature injury of the Iraq war. The acting Army Surgeon General Pollock offered those words in her testimony to Congress. Paul Reickoff's IAVA web site uses those words.

The Army Surgeon General has commissioned an expert interservice Task Force Report. The reports is complete, written, on General Bradshaw's desk.

What does it say. Until we have the best facts on TBI, we are all fumbling around the elephant, talking about talk-therapy for stress and depression and physical therapy for torn muscles and missing limbs. TBI is not a snake, not a tree, and certainly should not be a stone wall.

We know there is an elephant in the room. We are not blind. Let's all open our eyes and demand that the illumination of science and logic be shared in this democracy.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

The TBI elephant in the room:

Any discussion of physical or psychological wounds from the IED war in Iraq that does not mention Traumatic Brain Injury is like the blind men describing the elephant. That goes for suicides in theater, or post-deployment.

It takes no imagination to see that neurological loss of capacity, on top of stress and unregulated combat use of antidepressants, is going to contribute to PTSD and depression. What is easy to lose sight of is that TBI can be concealed by a total lack of penetrating trauma, or the presence of bvious trauma that may seem more pressing and tretable.

TBI is the signature injury of the Iraq war. The acting Army Surgeon General Pollock offered those words in her testimony to Congress. Paul Reickoff's IAVA web site uses those words.

The Army Surgeon General has commissioned an expert interservice Task Force Report. The reports is complete, written, on General Bradshaw's desk.

What does it say. Until we have the best facts on TBI, we are all fumbling around the elephant, talking about talk-therapy for stress and depression and physical therapy for torn muscles and missing limbs. TBI is not a snake, not a tree, and certainly should not be a stone wall.

We know there is an elephant in the room. We are not blind. Let's all open our eyes and demand that the illumination of science and logic be shared in this democracy.

Sorry, this adminstration does not pay attention to science, be it from global warming to psychological injuries or any other related matter that might "illumine" the american p[eople about the real cost of this war and its aftermath. Having PTSD is not macho, and that view is shared by many enlisted soldiers, who see only weakness and cowardice when confronted by these facts.

I'm A Nurse Married To A Soldier Active Duty; Based Upon What I've Read I Think If These Soldiers Were Not On Such Long Deployment You Would Not Have Most Of This Problem We Have To Consider That As American's We Are Not Use To The The Culture We're Fighting Against; This Is Normal Life For These People To Blow Themselves Up; Yet We Extend These Soldier's Time To 15 Months; Think About It Is Ptsd Numbers More So In The Airforce, Marines, Navy; I Think Not; How Long Is Thier Deployments? Please Don't Get Me Wrong, I 'm Proud That All Areas Of The Military Are Of Servicein This War, But If We Would Evenly Deploy All Areas Of The Military Maybe, We Would Have Shorter Deployments And Soldier's Would Be Able To Come Home From Shorter Deployments To Reunite With Families And Get The Help They Need, Instead Of Being Gone For Such Liong Deployment Without Any Help; That In It Self Is A Great Strain Mentally, Physically, Socially, Psychologically , And Spiritually; This Is What Makes Us A Human Being To Be A Whole Person In Mind And Body. I Salute All Our Men And Women In Un Iforms, We Also Have To Remember Afetr This War The Brave Men And Women Have Families And Lives To Continue ; God Bless You Thank You

“This year, the Pentagon expanded health monitoring for war veterans to include another screening three to six months after combat.”

The Post-Deployment Health Reassessment questionnaire used for these screenings has exactly 4 items (1 each for interpersonal problems, substance abuse, trauma symptoms, and depression) related to mental health. It is unconscionable to represent this as an even cursory screening for the pervasive and complex psychological problems that we KNOW develop in a large minority of military personnel. Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric - it’s a farce!

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The military and there hocus pocus on health screening and what not is just a good cover when in all reality you as a soldier know you cant say anything because they will just tell you you have two choices deploy or get kicked out no matter what your health problems are they dont care all they care about is numbers and numbers mean money in there eyes ask 10 officers or 10 E8 and a above how much danger they have seen and then you know the answers to all the questions everyone asks about us soldeirs the one making the decisons have no clue what is going on cause if they did this war would be over

This is definately a problem! I speak from the position of a veteran. I was deployed with my boyfriend and watched him go downhill once we were home. Things were horrible for us! Then to get into the VA and get treatment took over four months. He attempted suicide and still wasn't in for months, then at that point they said that things were okay now, since that was in the past, while he was telling the psychiatrist that he was having problems. So the doctor told him he needed to take 4 lithium pills morning and night along with two other pills and given a follow-up appointment in two months. In the meantime, he was going crazy on this medication, wondering what was going on, forgetting everything, he could hardly function, let alone work. Finally, after many crazy things happening, being overly paranoid and constantly angry, it got so bad we had to contact our congressmen just to get him an appointment into a 6-week treatment program, now 10 months after he began suffering from every sign of PTSD. Then - after a 6 hour drive to the VA treatment center, he went in for his appointment and they told him they couldn't accept him for 30 more days! This is after I was already 6 hours back home. So there he was, mad that he had finally thought someone was going to help him, with no car, no phone, nothing, being told to go back home. After notifying the congressman of the problem, with just one call on her behalf he would be checking in at another facility 3 hours away. He completed the program and the first thing they did was take him off the Lithium and other strong medication, which they said was a big part of the problem, but what was mainly the problem was that he suffered a TBI after being knocked unconsiouss by a roadside bomb in Iraq! Since the symptoms overlapped, it is hard to diagnose. But the reason it hadn't been diagnosed was because there was a 9 month waiting list just to get an MRI at the VA. The other test, a neurological one, had about a 6 month wait. Doesn't make any kind of sense to me. He said there were no other Iraq vets in the program, they were all from Vietnam, and they had to wait to get into the program too! How far behind is the VA heath care system? I think that could speak for itself.

“This year, the Pentagon expanded health monitoring for war veterans to include another screening three to six months after combat.”

This is a good concept I guess, but how does it really work? The PDHRA is designed to be done shortly after a soldier returns home, and the idea of expanding it means another check in at 3 to 6 months. When I came home from Iraq, I got a phone call for it 11 MONTHS after coming home! I was WAITING for it. So after the operator greeted me I said I was expecting the call 7 months ago and asked why there was such a delay. He explained that "well, uh, with the Iraq and Afghanastan deployments, we uh have a had uh more soldiers to talk to than we planned for." So I left it at that and continued with the survey, wondering how it was that they underestimated, do they not know how many soldiers they deployed or when they are slated to come back? I'm pretty sure that when a soldier deploys, they have anywhere from 10 to 18 months to prepare for the day that they will be scheduled for the PDHRA. It seems like the government is putting systems in place more for show than to actually deal with things on the level that it is at and where it is going with the continued deployments of our troops over a growing number of years.

my son in law is in jail nowfor having PTSD. went to see a doctor away from his unit, was admited for 6 days. as soon he was admited they called his unit. but because was not him the one that made the call, was detained , charged and jailed as a deserter, awol and disrespect an officer. he was on leave at the time, still he was flagged as awol, broke into my daughter on post housing. a deserter and awol, just for few day. and 3 of those days was on leave. this is today's army. a broken machine with corrupts sargents, not NCOs, setting new standarts, bendding , twisting without breaking army's regulation. we're going to contact CNN, al sharpton, his congressman, the president and USA. they want to make a statement with my son in law, if you speak out, we will retaliate. detained, charged and jailed. but with GOD help and good lawyers we will take this to the highest . all america will heard. this need to stop! how come the leadership are OK and the soldier is the bad one,and end up in jail? If you do not take care of your soldiers, the soldiers can not take care of the mission! if the soldier is not stable, the family can not be stable.but if the family is not stable, the soldier can not be stable.

As a mental health counseling student with an interest in working for the Army, I have done a lot of research on this topic. This is obviously something that cannot be ignored when more than 1/3 of deployed soliders seek mental health help upon their return. Unfortunately, we were not prepared for this war and the consequences that it would bring back home with it. There are not enough mental health professionals at VA's or on posts to accommodate the need. And, unfortunately, many psychiatrists simply prescribe drugs or if a soldier cannot see a psychiatrist, they are sent to an unqualified mental health provider that can do little for them. Fortunately, there has been legislation being passed in Congress that will allow more qualified mental health professionals to do their job without so much red tape. It is my sincere hope that this will help bring more help to our soliders who need it and I hope that I will be one of them as soon as I receive my counseling license.